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Netflix Shares Drop; Comcast Launching New Streaming Service

MarketBeat
WSJ.com's inside look at the markets

February 21, 2012, 1:07 PM
By Steven Russolillo

The whiff of more competition in the streaming video business isn’t sitting well with Netflix’s stock price.

Netflix shares are selling off as the broad market moves higher on news that Comcast will unveil its own streaming-video service. The Philly-based cable operator is launching a new service, called Xfinity Streampix, that will cost $4.99 a month, below Netflix’s current streaming service of $7.99 a month.

Netflix shares are down 2.9% at $118.42. The stock is still the best performer in the S&P 500 this year, up 71%. But it remains well below its all-time high hit over the summer when it traded above $300 a share.

Comcast’s new service will include programming from its own NBCUniversal as well as Walt Disney’s ABC and Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros.

Competition is ramping up in this space. Amazon has been beefing up its own web-streaming service and Verizon Communications earlier this year struck a deal with Coinstar’s Redbox to launch its own streaming service.